


Sparkling Water

by Kriber



Category: Lego Ninjago
Genre: Alternate Universe, F/F, F/M, Gen, M/M, all the villains are bad, also mild nudity warning, also morro uses they/them and you can't stop me, and all the protags are young and in love, jay is a disaster whenever cole is around, mermaid au, nadakhan is a bitch, no one can do anything right, so basically everyone is a dumbass, so is harumi, so weh, the female mers are topless, this is my first actually professional fic on here, well most of them
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-07-17
Updated: 2020-05-31
Packaged: 2020-06-30 09:41:24
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 4
Words: 17,978
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19850512
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Kriber/pseuds/Kriber
Summary: Jay was saved from drowning by a mysterious stranger, but in doing so, he was turned into a mermaid - or as they're properly called, mers. Now he has to balance a life both on the surface and underwater, and the Reef isn't the safest place in the world. Plus, the guy that saved him was... fairly cute, in Jay's personal opinion.But seriously what's with all the fish?





	1. Scales and Sparks

**Author's Note:**

> asdsgfdhg i've had this thing in the makings for a while so I'm glad I finally get to post it to ao3! if yall wanna contact me with fanart or a message or smth my tumblr is @nin-jay-go [ https://nin-jay-go.tumblr.com ] so i hope you enjoy! most of this is written in jay's pov bc he's my favorite character and i would kill for him
> 
> edit: changed it to 3rd person pov bc i didn't like the 1st person anymore oof

_Blue. All I see around me is blue. Water is blue, isn't it? Yea. It's water. All around me. I can't breathe. Am I drowning? Maybe. No, I probably am._

_Wait, what's that? Is that a person? It's too blurry to tell. Do they see me? I think they do. They're coming closer to me. Mm… Everything is going dark. Am I dying? Was that an angel coming for me? I guess I'll never know._

Jay's eyes snapped open. He took in a huge breath yet immediately regretted it since it sent him into a coughing fit. After he was done, Jay took a look around. He was in a small house, with weird green curtains and lots of rocks on pretty much everything. Yet by the bed was…

"Hey, you ok?" There was a person at the foot of the bed. He had thick dark hair that almost seemed to float and kind eyes, with a scar running down his left temple down to his cheekbone. His arms gripped the side of the bed, covering up the fact that he had no shirt on. He cocked his head in concern. "You just had a nasty cough."

Jay spent the next two seconds trying to come up with words, or to wipe the blush off his face. He probably looked ridiculous, or like a tomato. "Uhh yea… I'm fine!" Jay managed. "Where am I?" He looked around a bit, trying to figure out where he was. "And what happened?"

The stranger blinked. "Oh, you fell out of that uh, ship? Yea, ship. You fell out of it, so I helped you out." His smile turned slightly sad. "Sorry about that."

"Sorry? Sorry about what, saving me?" Jay chuckled, "Why would you need to apologize for that?" He held out my hand, grinning. "I'm Jay, by the way!" 

"...I'm Cole," he eventually accepted his hand with a smile. "It's nice to meet you!" Cole looked over at the window. "Lemme open that for you. Don't freak out," he added, shifting to get up.

"Freak out? About whaAAAAA?????" As Cole stood up to go open the windows, he didn't walk over there. He floated. No, he swam. He swam to the windows.

With a fish tail.

Jay scooted backwards into the bed, eyes not leaving his lower half. His upper half was a normal human, but the legs were replaced by a gray shark tail, complete with fins and a small black tip on the main dorsal. As he pulled open the curtains, he looked at them again. They were made of seaweed, Jay now realized. Not only were they seaweed, he noticed the sponges and coral chunks decorating the room, and that the bed itself was made of soft ocean sponge, and that the blanket was also made of seaweed. 

"What the fuck- where am I??" Jay locked eyes with Cole's as he looked away sheepishly.  
  
"You're in my house, which is…"

"...In the ocean…" Jay concluded. "But- but how am I…" His fingers traced the side of his neck, where there were now three thin slits. He pressed down on one experimentally. It felt like plugging up a nostril. Moving his hands slightly upward, Jay felt his ears were longer and a thin membrane passed through the lobe and the neck. Tearing his hands away from his neck, he ripped off the blanket.

His legs were gone. In their place was a slick tail, dark gray with a fin down the center and tiny yellowish freckles on the sides where the thighs should be. A tiny arc of electricity shot across the tail- his tail. He gave his muscles an experimental flex, and the tail responded with a flap. 

"What happened to me?" Jay looked up at Cole with a pleading glance. 

He looked away once more. "I did say I was sorry… this is what I'm sorry about." Cole swam over to the foot of the bed. "It was too far from the surface for you to have made it, so I turned you into a mer so that you wouldn't die. I'm really sorry about this," he wrung his hands, "but it was the only thing I could have done to save you…"

"So…" Jay tried to wrap my head around things, "I'm a mermaid now?"

"We use the term 'mer,'" Cole corrected. "And… technically you aren't. You're a shifter."

"A what?"

"It means you can, well, shift, from being a mer and a human, I think." He scratched his head. "We're not too well versed on how shifters operate, but that's the basis of it. My.. friend.. knows more about shifters though.” He hesitated on the word ‘friend’ and looked away from him. Jay cocked his head at him.

“So… I can still go on the surface? I don’t have to be stuck underwater?” Jay poked his tail. He felt the poke. The tail itself was slightly slimy and shimmered oddly in the underwater light. He tore his eyes away from it, trying to not think about it anymore. “I’ve got roommates up there- OH MY GOD!” Jay shot up from the bed - literally. He was floating in the air (water, the smart part of his brain corrected), tiny arcs of lightning sparking through his tail. “They’re probably worried sick about me! Oh shit oh fuck how long have I been down here they’ve probably called the police or something and oh fuck I need to get to them-” Jay rambled as he continued floating around, tail swishing, hands running through his hair. 

A hand rested on Jay's shoulder, shaking him out of his breakdown. He looked over at Cole, concern clouding his face. Jay forced himself to take deep breaths (he tried to not think about the fact that he wasn’t actually breathing in air), hiccupping while doing so. Cole guided him back down to the bed, where Jay instinctively curled his tail around Cole's before he realized what was happening and jerked it back. Eventually, he sighed, most of the hiccups and hyperventilation gone. 

“Sorry about that…” Jay muttered to the other mer, who gave his shoulder a gentle squeeze and a smile. 

“It’s fine, really. It’s understandable… Guessing it wouldn’t help to let you know how long you’ve been out for…” he said just as quietly. Jay shook his head, his anxiety already imagining the worst. 

“It’s been, uh, a while, right?” He cautiously asked. 

“A day and a half…”

“Shit…” Jay glanced back down at his tail. It was still as a statue, save for the fin waving slightly in the current from the window. Slowly, he pushed himself off the bed, stabilizing himself on the wall. “We should go see your friend then, right? He can help me?”

Cole nodded and swam over to Jay gracefully. “But be careful,” he warned, “mers are gonna stare at you weirdly because uh…” he fiddled with his fingers. “W-well you’re wearing clothes and usually mers don’t do that, plus you probably don’t know how to swim properly… Shifters aren’t exactly the most welcome of folk…”

Jay gulped nervously. “Uh it should be fine, right? I can swim.” He wiggled his tail experimentally and inched forward in the water. He gave a shaky smile to Cole and slowly made his way through the house. It looked, in essence, like a normal house. Save for the fact that nothing was made of recognizable materials or some things were floating, it looked fairly ordinary. 

When he looked back, Jay saw that Cole had swum ahead much faster than him. Shaking his entire body to try to catch up did nothing, and he noticed, as he started to laugh slightly as Jay tried to move. Eventually he gave up and moved his arms breaststroke-style while moving his tail to get to him faster.

“We need to work on that,” the mer remarked with a smirk. Jay rolled his eyes and Cole pushed open the door. As Jay exited, his jaw dropped. 

What was outside Cole’s house was the most beautiful place Jay's ever seen. Gorgeous greens and blues made up the color palette, with sharp accents of red and yellow coral. Sunlight weaved through the water and schools of shimmering fish swam by. Mers of all shapes and colors hung around, some swimming past, others selling food by a clump or rocks, and some mer children chasing after a frightened fish. 

Looking past the seemingly normal residential area, Jay spotted more houses popping around in the coral reef, spreading rather wide through the ocean. A large castle-like building towered in the distance, and in the other direction not far from it was a ravine, a long scar across the sandy floor. 

“Welcome to the Reef, Jay!” Cole sidled up to him, shaking Jay out of his stupor.

“It’s gorgeous,” he breathed.   
  
Cole smiled proudly. “It’s not _that_ special once you spend every day here,” he handwaved it. He swam in the direction of the castle and turned his head to look at the newly-turned shifter. “We need to get over there,” he pointed at the castle. Jay blinked. Does he work there or something? Do mers need to work? He swam over to him, trying to keep up best as possible. 

As he caught up, he noticed mers looking at him strangely. _‘Jeez, Cole’s right,’_ he thought. _‘They really don’t like shifters being here.’_ He grabbed onto Cole’s arm so he seemed less suspicious. “So…” Jay began, “do you work at the castle?”

“Nah, I just know the pseudo-prince.”

“Pseudo-prince?”

“Yea, you see,” Cole began, “the Reef is ruled by Princess Harumi, and one of her closest… advisors? is Garmadon. They’re super close, and sometimes it seems that Garmadon is her dad or something. Therefore, Garmadon’s actual son, Lloyd, is known as the pseudo-prince, since he has ties to the princess.”  
  
“And you’re friends with this Lloyd?”  
  
“Yea- well, no, but yes. I’m more friends with the castle’s informant, Zane. That’s the, uh, friend that I was talking about, the one that can help you.” Cole looked a lot more awkward all of a sudden. “I haven’t seen him in a bit since, uh, we broke up, so hopefully we’ll have luck in talking to him?” 

Jay looked at him curiously. Worry was written all over his face. He placed his free hand on his shoulder. “Hey, hopefully he won’t get mad at you?”  
  
Cole sighed. “He’s not the type to get mad; I’m mostly worried about how I’ll act. I haven’t seen him in a while, who knows how he’ll react to… this…” He gestured awkwardly at Jay. He looked away after a second of staring. 

Jay took this moment to look at the resident mers some more. Like Cole said, pretty much all of the mers we saw had no clothes on aside from the rare accessory of rocks or coral around their hands or tails. It felt off to look at a bunch of shirtless people with fish tails, so he looked towards the sky, face slightly flushed. 

The surface of the ocean was far away, at least fifty feet above them. It shimmered with midday light from the sun directly overhead, and more fish swam about. Jay took in his surroundings as they swam closer. As the name implied, the Reef was localized on a small coral reef, filled with beautiful colors and winding shapes. Houses were strewn here and there, their roofs coated in coral and walls made of stone. Seaweed grew in small clumps of sand in front of houses. Flowers, one part of his brain commented. He chuckled.

“What?” Cole noticed him giggling.  
  
“Sorry, it’s just that this place is really cute,” Jay answered playfully. “It reminds me of my home, on the surface. I can draw a few parallels.” His fingers brushed some stray floating seaweed and he pushed it away. Eventually, Jay slipped his hand out of Cole’s arm and found himself able to swim and catch up, letting his instincts take over. Cole smirked a proud grin, mouth full of sharp teeth. Jay smiled back, suddenly conscious of his own teeth. Running his tongue over them, he found sharp and needle-like teeth, quite unlike normal human teeth. He hoped it wouldn’t carry on into his normal appearance as a human when he changed back, if he even could.

After a bit of swimming, they made it to the castle grounds. The guards seemed to recognize Cole and let him in, letting Jay in only at Cole’s insistence that the shifter was with him. Making their way through the (somewhat small) castle, they made it to a door and the end of the hall. Inside, a couple of couches, stone with soft kelp pillows, sat in a circular room. Stairs stretched upwards, leading to another room. He spotted three mers chatting idly on the couches.

The one sitting alone on one couch had blonde, almost golden hair, bright eyes, and a long tail with what looked like leaves of kelp hanging off them. From what Jay remembered about marine biology, his lower half was a leafy sea dragon. If he looked closer, he could see leaves not unlike the ones on his tail growing from his hair. He couldn’t have been older than 15, and the strange part was that he wore a green hooded jacket. 

The other two were on the other couch, tails draped over each other. One had a white whale-like tail (a beluga whale, the trivia-smart part of Jay's brain told him), and his hair was the same shade of white, chopped short and square. He had a couple of gold bracelets on his wrists, and one hand was on the last mer. Her tail was solid purple with thin, translucent fins lining its front, back, and end, and her hair was strangely silver and tied up with some seaweed. Unfortunately for Jay, blushing his head off, she had no shirt on. 

Eventually all the mers in the room trained their eyes on the newcomers and Jay laughed nervously, giving a little wave. “H-hey there,” he smiled weakly. The blonde boy smiled and waved back. The white-haired mer swam over to Cole, who was looking like he’d rather not be here.

“Heeyyyyyyy Zane,” Cole began, “it’s, uh, been a while, huh?” Ohh so THIS was Zane, Jay realized. 

Zane looked at him sadly. “Yes, it has.” He looked over at Jay. “Is this your new partner?” 

“ASAHSGFJHFJSDGHS” “NO HE ISN’T-” Cole yelled over Jay's panicked blabbering.   
  
Zane blinked. “Oh, apologies for that. Who is he then?”

After they (mostly Jay) got over their sputtering (and watching the blonde kid laugh in the back), Jay waved at the whale mer. “I’m Jay, nice to meet you Zane!” Good thing he can regain his composure back fast. 

“He fell into the ocean and was going to drown, so I uh…” Cole looked away from the pointed look his ex gave him.  
  
“You turned him?”  
  
“...yes?”

Zane shook his head and grabbed Cole by the arm. “I’m sorry, Jay, but I need to talk to Cole for a bit.” He hauled him away upstairs (which led him to wonder why they even needed stairs) and left Jay and the other two mers behind. 

“You wanna come sit down?” The sea dragon mer offered. He scooted over to give Jay some room to sit and patted it. 

“Yea, thanks,” he swam over and sat down. His tail flopped weirdly down on the stone couch, turning to lay flat on the surface. Jay looked up at the other mers and gave that crowd-winning smile again. “So, uh, yea. I’m Jay, and I’m pretty sure Cole, uh, turned me? Is that the right term?”

“Yes, it is,” the female mer said. “My name is Pixal, I am Zane’s current partner-”  
  
“And I’m Lloyd!” The blonde mer cut in. “I’m the pseudo-prince of the Reef!”

“Oh YOU’RE Lloyd??” Jay squinted at him, “I thought you’d be older than this. How old are you, 10?”

Lloyd pouted playfully as Pixal laughed softly. “I’m 15, excuse you! And there’s no real set age for being the prince, you know! I’m guessing Cole told you about me?”  
  
“He didn’t tell me much, just that the place is governed by Harumi and your dad.” Jay paused. “Is Garmadon _her_ dad too? Are you two related?”

“Not by blood OR bond,” Lloyd laughed, “She and my dad just like each other a lot, and I think she’s trying to convince him to adopt her or something like that.” Lloyd waved his hand around. “But we’ve gotten to know each other through this, so we’re kinda siblings in a way? She’s a few years older than me, plus she was ruling the Reef since before my family and I came here, so we just kinda, fit in.” A sad look flashed in his eyes for a minute, then it was gone.

“The Reef is a wonderful place,” Pixal said, “do you like it here, Jay?”

“Are you kidding me? This place is absolutely GORGEOUS!” Jay threw his arms up. “It’s beautiful and aside from judgemental mers I saw around, no one tried to mug or kill me, so that’s already a plus in my book!”

Lloyd and Pixal shared a look. “Is your home prone to killing or thievery?” Pixal probed. 

“Wh? Oh, nah, I’m just glad this place doesn’t have it, ya know?” He laughed it off. “But seriously, I didn’t know that shifters, or whatever I’m called now, are so hated by society. What’s with that?” 

“Not many mers have the chance to encounter someone from the surface,” Zane’s calm voice floated down at the group as he and Cole descended. The shark mer looked significantly less nervous but was still biting his lip. Zane settled down next to Pixal and Cole placed himself on the edge of the couch next to Jay. 

“Shifters,” Zane began, “are humans turned by mers into mers themselves. Unlike natural mers, humans are all mentally connected to some sort of marine animal. If a human is turned, that animal is pulled from that connection and used in their mer forms. In your case, Jay, your connected marine animal is an electric eel.” Said eel mer wiggled his tail in response, making Cole laugh. 

“Shifters are turned in a variety of ways, the most common one being by manually cutting slits into a human’s neck by a special crystal known as a Water Gem.” At this, Cole shied away, looking anywhere else but Jay. “It will take a while for the turned shifter to fully adjust to their new mer body, as turning alters some of your internal structure to better fit the form you are shifting to. Don’t worry,” Zane added upon seeing Jay's face grow panicked, “it is completely harmless. Unfortunately, shifters cannot come and go as they please. Once you are turned, you must stay by the ocean.” 

He gulped. “Why?” 

“It has been observed by shifters that they cannot spend a full 24 hours in either land or sea,” the whale mer continued. Jay caught a glimpse of Lloyd, whose eyes showed that same sadness from before. It was subtle, but he caught it. “They must spend at least an hour in each zone to refresh. Otherwise, you will grow weak and your body will fail you.”

“So, I can stay on land forever, but I have to go into the ocean once a day for an hour?” Jay tried to clarify. Zane nodded. “Wait,” he went on, “what if I go into fresh or regular water? Can I only go into saltwater?” 

“If you’re a salt mer now,” Cole explained, “you’re a salt mer forever. Going into fresh water will pretty much act as a poison and kill you in seconds.” Jay gulped. “But as for the, uh, ‘regular water,’ I don’t know. What is it?”

“Filtered water,” Jay elaborated. “It’s not fresh or salty, it’s just… water, I guess. I don’t really know how to explain it,” he shrugged.  
  
The others seemed to accept this. “Why don’t we ask Wu about it?” Pixal asked. 

“Wu?”

“My uncle,” Lloyd said. “He’s really smart and he knows a lot about shifters. Maybe he can help?” Again that sad look appeared on his face. It vanished as soon as it arrived. 

“I think Wu can wait,” Zane got up, “but Jay cannot. You should get back to the surface before your time runs up. Cole,” the mentioned mer jumped slightly, “you know the way to the shoreline, correct?” At his nod of affirmation, Zane continued. “Take him back up. Lloyd, Pixal and I will go to Wu for answers.” 

“Can do!” Cole pushed himself off the couch and waved his tail. “We need to go past my house, which is perfect, since I need to give Jay back something.” The shifter blinked, confused. What was he missing? Nothing, right?

Zane and Pixal were already out the door, Cole swimming over to catch up. He started to go over there before a hand touched his tail. His instincts told Jay to zap whoever was touching it, but not only did he not know how, he also didn’t want to, so he yanked his tail back and looked at Lloyd, who was still sitting on the couch. “Everything ok Lloyd?”

Lloyd fidgeted with the hood of his jacket. “When you get back to the surface, can you do me a quick favor?” Jay gave him a warm smile. “Yea, of course! What’s up?”  
  
“I need you to search for someone named Morro,” Lloyd said in an even tone. His eyes flashed with that same sadness Jay's seen all day. Whoever this Morro guy is, they must be important to Lloyd. “They have black hair with a green streak and probably wear either green or black, or both,” the blonde mer continued. “I just need you to see if you can find them up there. If not, I-I understand.” 

Jay put a hand on Lloyd’s shoulder. “Yea, I’ll try my best.” He gave him a huge, grateful smile, which the shifter returned with a toothy grin. 

“Hey Jay! You comin’ or what?” Cole called from outside. “Coming!” He gave Lloyd one last smile before swimming out of the room.

After one fifteen-minute trip to Cole’s house, they went back in and the shark mer disappeared somewhere as Jay sat in the living room, which had the same stone couches as the palace did. His tail swished as he waited, hands in his lap and eyes all over the room, eating it all up. Eventually Cole returned with…

“My pants!” There they were. His pants. “I kinda assumed they ripped when I turned?” 

Cole gave a furious blush, glowing like a cherry. It was so cute Jay had to laugh. “Th-that’s not important! Just take these things,” he shoved them towards the eel mer, “I feel like you might need them for the surface.” 

“You’d be correct,” he chuckled. Tying the pant legs around his waist, Jay looked back up at Cole. “So we going or what?”

Cole shook his head free of the blush before nodding and heading out, motioning for Jay to follow. He led him out of the residential area to part of the outskirts, swimming through a tunnel in the rocky foundation at the edge of.. town? yea let’s go with town. As they entered the tunnel, it turned darker, and something around Jay glowed. 

“Oh my triton that is so cute,” Jay heard Cole mutter. Looking over, he saw him looking dead at his face, his own blushing like mad again. “Huh?” Jay tipped his head to the side, really confused. “It’s uh, your freckles. They’re glowing.” It wasn’t like he could check at all, but it made sense, in a way. It only caused him to blush, intensifying the glow. Cole’s soft laugh permeated the silence and honestly? It was absolutely adorable. 

They spent about ten minutes swimming through the tunnel, making small talk about the water temperature or Jay's experiences as a mer, which were all “it’s really cool” and “I’m lovin it.” Eventually, they reached open waters, where they swam for another ten minutes through a kelp forest. Jay decided to try some maneuvers and tricks with his newfound ability to swim like a fish, making flips and spins and circles, excitement and adrenaline bubbling forth. Cole seemed to enjoy the show, laughing with him as he tried some tricks as well.

The ground finally began to rise up, and they poked their heads above the water to check where the shore was. The sun was setting by now, turning the water a lovely purple and red. Not far from where they were was an area with lots of black rocks near a cliffside. Waves crashed at the rocks, and white foam rushed the sand. They made their way over there, keeping watch for humans walking by, and when they made it, the mers saw not a single human in the vicinity. Jay saw a red flag a few yards from the rocks with DANGER - ROCKS warning written on it. 

He hauled himself onto the beach, leaving Cole to flop down in the shallow waters, half submerged. “Now what?”  
  
Cole shrugged. “Zane just said that you should change soon after leaving the water. I don’t know how soon ‘soon’ is.” 

As he said that, Jay's tail began to glow and his eyes went wide. After a few painless seconds (and a weird tingly feeling all over), the tail was gone and replaced by legs once more. Then it came to him that he had no pants on, so he quickly pulled them on. They were sopping wet but then again so was the most of him.

Cole had vanished, but his dorsal fin poked out like a normal shark’s. Jay stood up, albeit very wobbly from not using his legs in a while, and splashed the water a little, alerting the shark mer. His head popped up above the waves and he looked at my legs in wonder. 

“Yep,” Jay kicked a leg out, “this is a leg.” 

“It’s thin.”

“Yea well humans don’t have tail-sized legs; that’d just be weird!” He laughed. “So, uh… how will I find my way back to the Reef?”

Cole blinked. “You’re coming back?”

“Of course I am! Why wouldn’t I?”

“I don’t know, just, y’know, curious, I guess? And uh, it’s not that hard to find your way back. If you reach the kelp forest it’s a quick journey straight through it or around it to reach the rock wall behind it. It stretches a pretty long distance, so you’ll find it. There’s a bunch of tunnels in it for mers to go through, so just go on through and you’ll be able to find my house somewhere in the area.”

“Great, cya tomorrow then!” Jay waved at Cole. “Thanks a ton, dude! I owe you one for, ya know, saving me and all that junk.” A strange look flashed in Cole’s eyes for a split second, but it was gone soon after. He smiled that sharky smile of his. “Of course! I’ll see you tomorrow then!” He dove back under and soon the gray of his tail was gone. Waves crashed on Jay's bare feet as he looked back at him. He felt around his face and neck. Good news was that his ears had shrunk back down. Bad news was that he felt ridges on his neck, as if the gills had left scars. He zipped up his jacket, popping his collar so that it covered his neck. 

Slowly but surely, Jay made his way past the rocks, through the sandy beach, and up to the bus stop, where he waited cold and wet and probably very stinky. A few late-night beach visitors looked at the shifter strangely, so he concluded that yes, he does stink. And he probably looked really weird, without any beach equipment and with soaking wet clothes. When he got on the bus Jay then realized he had no money.

Fortunately, the bus driver took pity on his wretched appearance and let him go on for the spare change he had in his jacket (which was a quarter and a nickel). As they drove back to the city where Jay lived, he finally took a moment to relax and take in everything that had happened to him in the last hour or so.

So… he's now a mer. He's part fish now - part _eel_ , even. And he had the ability to turn into one as soon as he touched salt water. Which he had to do once a day for an hour. And it was at this point Jay realized how crazy everything sounded. If he even _tried_ to tell his roommates about this, they’d never believe him. 

He thought about Lloyd’s request. _“Find Morro,”_ he had said. So that’s something he had to keep in mind now. Not only that, but he kept thinking about Cole. There was something about him that Jay couldn’t quite put his finger on, but whatever it was it was… good. A smile spread over his freckled face. What in the world is happening to him?

Oh wait. There was one other thing. He was absolutely starving. He hadn’t eaten anything in over 48 hours, Jay realized. This was… not good. On top of that, he was tired, despite _sleeping_ for over 24 hours. _Leave it to me to be so tired all the time,_ he laughed to himself. 

He was shaken out of his stupor by the bus stopping where he needed to go. Jay thanked the bus driver for their hospitality and hopped out onto the street. He walked for about a minute or so to his apartment, shivering in the cold evening air, and stepped inside, where some teen sat engrossed in their phone. Pushing the button in the elevator to his floor absently, Jay stared up at the ceiling. _'_ _This has been one crazy day,'_ he thought to himself one last time. 

The elevator stopped and Jay went out, heading to his room. He fished out his keys (which miraculously were still in his pocket) and unlocked the door. Stepping inside, he noticed the living room was dark and insanely messy, things strewn absolutely everywhere. The lights were on in another room, and voices were faintly heard from there. He had apparently zoned out, because the door slammed shut behind him with a loud bang. 

The voices in the other room stopped. The door opened quickly and Jay turned his head to see a mess of dark brown hair, flat and matte, unlike how it usually is, obscuring the panicked, scarred face of Kai. The second he saw him, his eyes went aglow, tears filling them, and he rushed at Jay at breakneck speeds. He wrapped him in a bonecrushing hug, muttering something incoherent, tears only adding more saltwater to his clothes. Jay quickly hugged back, missing Kai’s hugs. Out of the corner of his eye, Jay saw a black bob, smudged makeup, and more tears, and they were soon joined by another hugger, who ran at them with a cry of “Jay!!” They stayed like that for a while, the three of them. Just hugging it out.

When Kai and Nya let him go at last, all of them crying tears of joy and relief, they sat down on the couch and regained their breath. “It’s been two days,” Kai started weakly. “You fell off the ship in that storm, and I couldn't do anything about it. You were gone. I thought you were dead.” His hand squeezed Jay’s left. “We called the police. We were told that you were dead. There was no way you’d survive. That’s what they told us.” He gave a sad, broken laugh. “This is why I don’t trust the ocean. Or cops. They don’t bring any good. I shouldn’t have gone. _You_ shouldn’t have gone.” He was crying again, and Jay leaned in to hug him.

“It’s fine, Kai,” Jay said quietly. “It’s all ok now. I’m fine. I’m safe. I’m alive. I’m here.” Kai gave another sob. Nya got up from the couch and hugged them both once more. _'_ _This is fine,'_ he thought. _'This was more than fine.'_

Nya called the police to let them know Jay had returned safely, to which they replied that they’d need a statement from him. “Fair enough,” Jay said after Nya explained it, “but there’s also something I need.” The Smith siblings looked at him expectedly. “Food.” The short answer caught them off guard but they laughed it off anyways, glad to have him back. 

As Nya went to prepare some food, Kai and Jay stuck by her in the kitchen, Kai helping her out with getting salt and pepper and such. “I think,” Kai chuckled, “that before we eat there’s one order of business we need to take care of.” He pointed straight at me. “You need to shower. You stink so badly.” As Jay sputtered indignantly and Nya laughed, he came up with a response. 

“Well, it’s not like you’re any better; you stink pretty badly too!” 

Kai scratched the back of his neck. “I didn’t really have time to take a shower, y’know, since you were MIA and everything?” The three of them shared a laugh. All was good. 

Jay reached over and grabbed a bottle of water and chugged it without thinking. However, the second he got halfway past the bottle, he dropped it. The shifter remembered Zane’s warnings about how non-salt water can kill a mer in seconds, and his uncertainties with filtered water. What if just by drinking that he'd die? Did he do something bad???

But after a few seconds, nothing happened. Nothing hurt, nothing burned. Jay was still alive, and Kai and Nya were looking at me, highly concerned. He stuttered out a nervous laugh. “Sorry it uh, still tasted like salt water for a minute there?” The sibs seemed to accept that and Kai picked up the bottle, which was mostly emptied out on the floor. “It’s fine, Jay. You’ve had enough stress in the past couple of days, so it’s fine if you feel a bit weird.”

“But seriously Jay, go take a shower,” Nya butted in. “You stink real bad and if you keep having salt on your lips, you won’t taste how good this is gonna be.”

“Honestly? After not eating anything in 48 hours, anything will taste good,” Jay laughed as he hopped off the counter. “Sure I won’t miss the meal? I might be in there for a while.”

“Take all the time you need, dude,” Kai patted his shoulder. “Go take a shower, Stinky Man!"

“Only if you take one after me!” He yelled back as he ran to the bathroom. _Time to wash off all the saltwater and test if shower water will kill me, I guess,_ his thoughts betrayed his mood.

Ok so, good news, the shower did not kill him. Nor did it turn him. It seemed that filtered water was neutral and did nothing. Getting changed into a sweater that covered up his gill lines, Jay made his way back to the kitchen, where a bunch of delicious looking food was laid on the table. His mouth watered and his stomach growled. Before he knew it, all the food was gone and he was full and more tired than ever. Jay snuck a glance at the clock. It read 10:38pm, and it must have been an hour at least since I got back, so he had to get back in the ocean at 9-ish tomorrow if he didn’t want to shrivel up and die. Fun. 

Jay made his way to his room after waving goodnight to Nya. He didn’t even bother changing due to the complete exhaustion and flopped down on the bed. He pulled the blanket over himself and fell asleep in seconds. 

He dreamt about the ocean.


	2. A Weedy Advisor

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Jay takes a walk, then meets one person he didn't really expect to. He learns about sea crystals and is gay

Jay awoke with the scent of salt around him. Pushing himself into a sitting position, he gave a hearty yawn and rubbed his eyes. Looking down at himself, he saw that he was still in casual home clothes - the sweater from last night and a pair of sweatpants.  _ Why didn’t he change into pajamas? _ a stray thought crossed his mind as he blinked sleep away from his vision.    
  


Suddenly, all the memories from yesterday exploded in his mind. Cole, Zane, mers, the Reef, everything came rushing back like an electric current. He grasped his head and winced. The throbs eventually subsided and he bounced his leg on the bed.   
  


A knock on the door resounded, and it opened to reveal Kai poking his head in. His hair was gelled up and spiky once more, just as Jay was used to. “Hey dude, good to see you awake,” he quipped. “Nya made breakfast; come get it while it’s hot.” After Jay’s nod and thumbs up, Kai left.    
  


The shifter sighed and trudged into the bathroom. He felt nowhere near rejuvenated and everything seemed to be underwater for him. After he washed up, the feeling went away and he felt stable again. Jay went for breakfast and chatted amicably with his roomies as they all ate a very delicious breakfast. 

“Hey, wanna take a walk, Jay?” Kai proposed, “It might help clear your head, since you just came back from something pretty stressful.”   
  


“Yea, sure dude!” Jay perked up. “I’d like to spend some time on land for a bit, haha.” The joke landed well and Nya chuckled. “I just need to call into work to let them know that I didn’t die,” he added, instinctively reaching for his phone. A phone that was missing. “Uh oh.”   
  


“Hmm?” Nya looked up from the dishes she was washing. “What’s up Jay?” 

  
“I can’t find my phone!” The shifter exclaimed, jumping to his feet. 

  
“Well yea, because you’ve changed into clean clothes dude,” Kai held up his hand, “you left it on the deck before you fell, don’t worry. We managed to get all your belongings.” As he left the room, Jay let out a sigh of relief, slumping down in the chair. A moment or so later, Kai handed him his phone and Jay made the call to his boss. They were… indifferent… to his almost dying. Jay hung up with a small grumble and shoved it into his pocket as he waited for Kai and Nya to join him at the door.   
  


A few minutes later, they were all walking the streets of the city, different people passing by, doing their own thing. The sun was bright and warm, shining brightly in the sky. It was no refraction of the water surface, but it was still nice. A man with a fruit stand had a line of customers paying for fresh fruit and a bunch of children ran around after pigeons. It was so familiar yet so refreshing and nice to see again.    
  


Kai and Nya were having some sort of debate over whether tomatoes were a fruit or not, so Jay tuned out and decided to roam his thoughts. The deadline of 9pm loomed over his head, and he tried to figure out how exactly he could get away from the sibs without seeming suspicious. They couldn’t know he could turn into a mer, there’d be no way to explain, and besides, they wouldn’t believe him anyways.   
  


Jay eventually remembered Lloyd and his request.  _ ‘Find Morro,’ _ sure, but who were they? Whoever this Morro person was, it’s unlikely that Jay would ever find them in the city he lives in. It’s a huge world; there’s a good chance Morro had already left to another state or even another country. Then again, it would be easy enough to find them if they were indeed in this city. There aren’t that many people with a green streak in their hair and dark clothes-   
  


“Wow, hey look at that kid,” Kai’s voice broke his thoughts. Jay looked at him, then in the direction he was pointing. It’s as if fate wanted this to happen, because standing in the shadow of a coffee shop was a teen with black hair with a green streak in it. They wore a big black hoodie and a dark cape that looked like it was bought at hot topic or something. Adding to their strange apparel were shorts and flip flops, and their hands were stuck in their pockets.    
  


“They look like they just escaped an anime convention,” Kai snickered. Nya snorted, then socked her brother on the arm gently. “They do!” the brunette defended, laughing. Jay laughed with them, but had his eyes still trained on Morro (or at least he  _ thought _ this was Morro).    
  


Nya eventually noticed him staring the hot-topic-anime-convention kid down. “Do you know them?” 

  
Jay shrugged. “I might. Gimme a sec, ok?” He waved at Nya and Kai as he jogged over to the mystery kid. Stopping in front of them, Jay coughed to get their attention before giving an awkward wave. “Hey there! Are you, uh, Morro?”   
  


The edgelord raised an eyebrow, then turned his head towards Jay. “Who’s asking?” 

  
“Oh, I’m Jay. I, uh, know Lloyd?”   
  


Morro paused. “...You’re a new shifter, aren’t you? It’ll explain your lack of tact and scent,” they concluded. They idly cracked their fingers as they studied him. “So, what do you want from me? Here to take me to Lloyd and have me humiliate myself or something?”

  
Jay scrunched up his face. “I mean, no? Lloyd asked me to bring you to him, so-”

  
“Don’t,” Morro avowed. “I am in no mood or condition to return to them - and I’m sure they don’t really  _ want _ me back. So whatever you want out of me, do NOT take me back.”

  
“But aren’t you a shifter? Don’t you have to be in the water?”   
  


“Sure, but it doesn’t mean that I have to go to the Reef,” they countered. “I just go in, stay for a while, then leave. That’s. It.”

  
Jay bit his lip. This kid was… stubborn, to say the least. “Well,” he concurred, “I promise I won’t bring you to the Reef.”

  
“Or tell Lloyd.”

  
He sighed. “Or tell Lloyd…”    
  


A heavy pause hung in the air, and Jay saw Kai and Nya talking in the back, looking at him every once in a while. He made eye contact with Kai and smiled at him, giving the brunette a thumbs up to signify that he was ok. Turning back to Morro, Jay sighed again. “All I really want from you, since I heard you’re a shifter, was just some advice, I guess?” He shrugged. “I don’t really know how to be a shifter, and there aren’t exactly any that can teach me in the Reef.”   
  


Morro looked him dead in the eyes. “Why exactly would you even come asking me for it? And how’d you find me anyways?” 

“Your appearance is kind of… a dead giveaway,” Jay rubbed the back of his neck sheepishly. “Lloyd told me to look for someone with the very same appearance you have, so I just kinda, guessed… Plus, if you really were a shifter, I hoped I could get some tips?”    
  


Morro gave a loud huff. “Fine. I can help you out.” At Jay’s happy face they jabbed a finger at his nose. “But only tonight at 8pm. Come to the rocky part of the beach if you want to get ‘tips,’” they concluded. The teen sniffed the air and wrinkled their nose as they looked over at the siblings still idly chatting in the back. “And stay away from those freshies, will ya?”   
  


“Freshies?” Jay frowned. “They’re my roommates.” Morro rolled their eyes. “What does freshie mean?” He added.    
  


“Eh, not that important,” Morro turned around and headed to the doors of the coffee shop. “8pm, tonight, at the rocky part of the beach. Oh also, bring yoga pants or leggings. Capiche?”    
  


“Yep! Bye, Morro!” Jay waved them goodbye as they entered the store. He heard movement and saw Kai and Nya join him again. “Hey guys, sorry ‘bout that. Just had to talk to them.”  
  
  
“Who were they?” Nya asked.   
  


“Their name is Morro, they’re the cousin of one of my uh, coworkers,” Jay lied, “and I might need to see them later tonight. At like, 8-ish?”    
  


Kai opened his mouth to protest before Nya slapped her hand over his mouth. “Look,” she addressed the shifter, “we’re all still shaken up from the past few days, so maybe you shouldn’t go anywhere…”   
  
Panic shot through Jay. Was he really going to shrivel up and die because his friends loved him too much?   
  


“...that is, that’s what I knew Kai would say,” Nya drew her hand off her brother’s mouth, who was glaring at her. “All I can say is, be careful, ok?” Jay smiled widely at this. “Seriously, you’re a grown adult, and even if you almost died recently, I don’t think you’re THAT dumb to do it again,” she mirrored his smile.   
  


Jay tackled both of them in a big hug, one they gratefully returned.   
  


A few hours later, Jay found himself on the beach where he turned back on the first day. He checked the water, shimmering with sunset colors. Waves crashed against the shore, making a satisfying hiss as it hit the sand. Most people weren’t at the beach by this time, as the water grew cold. No one would want to be around the danger area either. There’s dangerous rocks here!   
  


“I see you arrived,” he heard a voice from behind him. The newer shifter turned around to see the teenage shifter walking up from behind him, leggings replacing their usual shorts. Jay’s legs weren’t any different, as he dug up some of Kai’s old leggings and tugged them on. They were a bit too long, so the ends were tugged up to not trip over his own feet. Yea they were cheesy and printed with stock images of fire but that’s just Kai.   
  


“Your leggings are painful to look at,” Morro stated.    
  


“They were my roommate’s,” Jay countered.    
  


Morro rolled their eyes and muttered something about freshies under their breath. “Ok, let’s just get this over with.” They raised a finger. “Only one hour. Got it?”   
  


Jay nodded. “So why’d we wear leggings?”   
  


“They meld into your tail easily when you turn,” the edgelord said, stepping into the waves. “Well, you coming?” they looked at him.    
  


They disappeared beneath the water as he rushed to join them, submerging himself in the shallows. There wasn’t a change right away, but after a moment or so, Jay felt his legs tingling and going numb as his neck pricked with his gills opening up. It was over as soon as it began, and he opened his eyes to see his gray, shiny tail sticking out where his legs should be. Sure enough, there wasn’t a single pair of leggings in sight - in the water OR on his legs.    
  


Jay swam through the shallows and saw Morro waiting by the edge of the kelp forest. The green streak in their hair looked like one of the strands of seaweed growing so abundantly here. Their tail seemed reminiscent of Lloyd’s; it was dragonlike and murky green, except where Lloyd’s tail was decorated with tons of pretty leaf-like appendages, Morro’s was barren and wiry, sporting only a few leaves.    
  


“What?” they quirked an eyebrow. “Didn’t expect me to actually be a shifter, or what?”   
  


“It’s not that,” Jay countered, “it’s just that… your tail kinda reminds me of Lloyd’s.”   
  


The teen scoffed at that, looking genuinely offended. “Of course it does. Greenie’s a leafy sea dragon. I’m a weedy sea dragon.”   
  


“Is that supposed to be a major difference?”    
  


“Do you want me to teach you shifter stuff or no?” They swam over to Jay. “So go on, tell me your tragic backstory.”   
  


A brief retelling of the story and everything that led up to their meeting later, Morro was biting their lip (with significantly sharper teeth than normal). “So that’s why Lloyd sent you to go look for me,” they reasoned. “But it looks like you’ve figured out the filtered water.”

  
“It’s like… a neutral ground- er, water, right?”   
  


“Yea, pretty much. You can’t turn in it, nor can it hurt you. So basically it’s a way to get the saltwater stink off of you.” They waved their hand as they presented. “As well as that, you can safely drink both salt and filtered water without any harm being done to your body.”   
  


Morro swam over and inspected his tail. Jay shied away under the other shifter’s sharp gaze, but figured they knew what they were doing. As Morro poked his tail, it gave a small electric shock. He could feel it circulating his body and gravitating towards the touch. Morro jerked their hand back and hissed. “Yea you’re definitely an ele-eel.”    
  


“Yea I’m aware, Zane told me,” Jay laughed, spinning away from the zapped teen. They glared at the eel mer, who smirked. “Why’d you touch my tail anyways?”   
  


“It was to test your reflexes,” they explained. “If your natural instincts tell you to zap someone touching your tail, you’ll do it. You don’t know how to control something that might be dangerous.”

  
Jay’s smile fell at this. “Dangerous? I managed to suppress it yesterday when Lloyd grabbed my tail.”

  
“It was probably your conscious effort to not zap someone you think doesn’t need to be zapped,” Morro narrowed their eyes, “which means that I was worthy of being zapped?”   
  


“Pfffft, that’s not it at all!” Jay countered. “I wasn’t even the one that shocked you; my tail did!”    
  


“Yea, yea, sure whatever. I’m not gonna stay here forever; I don’t like the ocean.” Morro flicked their tail. “So get on with your questions, newbie.”   
  


“Ok, uh,” his mind froze up. He had so many questions yet when it was time to ask them, they yeeted themselves out of his head.  _ ‘Thanks brain.’ _ “Zane mentioned something about… water gems? I think?”

  
“Water gems?” Morro perked up. “Yea, I know of them. They’re pretty rare down at this section of the ocean. The only way to get them is the Trench.”

  
“The Trench?”  
  
  
“The giant ravine over there,” they pointed at the crevice. “I’ve hung out there a lot; they’re the folk that turned me before Wu and Lloyd found me.” They touched their gills. “Sea crystals are plentiful down there, so they had an opportunity to turn me and gain another member of their little evil menagerie.”   
  


“So..” Jay tried to take in Morro’s spilling of their past, “what do they do?”

  
“A variety of things, really. They’re primarily used to turn non-mers, or as decoration, since they’re pretty even when not glowing. But they do have an interesting function. Gather enough and you’ll be able to become a human yourself, the mers say. Wrap them around your gills and wrists and tail and you’ll grow legs and breathe the air.”   
  


“Whoa…” Jay marveled with starstruck eyes.    
  


“They’re also able to do the same for shifters,” they continued. “If done the same with their wrists and gills, a saltwater shifter can enter fresh water safely, and vice versa. But,” Morro held up a finger, “it takes a lot of them to actually get a shifter to another water type, and even more for mers to step onto land. They’re rare, so mers typically don’t use them. The only people with access to them are the Trenchdwellers and they don’t want to leave their kingdom at all.”   
  


Jay hummed in confirmation, deep in thought. He could totally bring Cole up to the surface - hang out with him, look at the stars at night, experience the beauty of an urban city…    
  


He began drifting away into his thoughts before Morro snapped their fingers at him and woke him up. “Are you listening?” He nodded nervously (why was he nervous, Morro’s just a kid, they can’t hurt him).   
  


The sea dragon mer sighed, a cloud of bubbles rising from their mouth. “I was  _ saying _ that it isn’t that simple, even with that knowledge. Sea crystals are known to lose their power after a few days of not growing, so they need to be replanted and kept to grow for several weeks. Therefore, the resources are infinite and replenishing, but it takes them a while to recharge and regrow-”   
  


Suddenly, Morro’s eyes widened. “Oh sh-” They took off into the kelp forest as fast as a bullet, finding a current that snaked through the weeds. Jay was left staring confused at their retreating form and made his way over to that same current. “Morro? Where are you going?” Upon getting no response, he began to swim over when something grabbed his arm.   
  


Shaken and terrified, Jay zipped into the kelp when he heard a familiar voice reassure him. “It’s ok, Jay! It’s me!”   
  


Recognizing that voice immediately, he poked his head through the kelp to see the smiling and slightly concerned face of Cole. “Sorry about that, dude. I thought you had noticed me.”

  
“Whaaaat? Pfft, I totally noticed you,” Jay laughed it off despite it being entirely unconvincing. “What are you doing here?”   
  


“I like coming over here to hunt,” Cole explained, “there’s a lot of fish here that I like.”

  
“...Hunt?”   
  


“I’m a carnivore, ain’t I? I eat fish and stuff. What are  _ you _ doing here?”   
  


“Oh, I was-” Jay cut himself off, remembering the deal he and Morro made. “I guess I saw a fish or something, and uh, tried to chase it?” He gave a weak shrug and a lopsided grin.   
  


“Fair enough,” Cole accepted. “Well, while you’re here,” he extended a hand, “why don’t I give you a tour of the place?”   
  


“Yea, sure! That’d be great!” Jay smiled as he took his hand (and felt his traitorous face heat up) and let Cole lead him through the tunnel.   
  


The journey took ten minutes as usual, and soon they were back at the Reef. Cole led him through the different zones, showcasing each area and what it was meant for. There was a shopping district, the residential area, the school, the playground, the castle, the Trench, a bunch of areas that reminded him of his own home. It was a quaint but large town, and it seemed to be hidden wonderfully from any scuba divers that would come and investigate. Even so, Jay noticed the stares and distrustful looks he got while he got toured, despite swimming fairly normally.   
  


“And this is the last place,” Cole concluded his tour, showing off the final area, which was a building significantly larger than most of the houses and about the size of the school. It was nondescript, yet chains of deactivated sea crystals hung as decorations. Jay could tell they were deactivated due to the lack of a glow inside of them.   
  


“Is the town hall?” Jay prompted.  
  


“Indeed it is, kiddo!” An unknown voice spoke up near them. They turned around to see two mers swimming up to them, hands holding. One was a pudgy brown fish mer with curly brown hair swirled up at the top, and crows feet at his eyes. The other had a red straw(?) hat covering messy brown hair and a scraggly stubble, with strange armor-like plating over him and a red cloth eyepatch, and the tail of a shark. The voice seemed to come from the fish mer, who waved with his free hand. “Are you new to the Reef?”   
  
“Yea, I guess I am,” Jay shrugged. “I’m Jay!”

  
“Dareth, and that’s my husband, Ronin!” Said husband blushed and crossed his arms, embarrassed.    
  


Cole laughed. “Yea, these guys live not too far from me, I’ve known them since I moved here.”   
  


“Aww, cute!” Jay laughed as well. “They’re like your close neighbor friends, or something!”    
  


“I guess so!” Cole and Jay waved goodbye as the couple left, still chatting merrily.    
  


Jay smiled. “I like this place…! Maybe one day I can show you the surface?”    
  


Cole blushed, then frowned. “It’s almost impossible to do that, not unless you have water gems enough to do that, and they’re only found in the Trench. No one goes down there aside from Trenchdwellers, and they don’t like sharing.” He gave a small smile. “Thanks for the thought, though!”   
  


Jay blushed like mad at that smile. “You never know, I could find some maybe? And then, I can show you the surface!” He beamed. “If I had this much fun down here, it’ll be just as, if not more, fun up there!”   
  


They shared a hopeful laugh as the sun set over the Reef.


	3. Shedding Skin

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The Serpentine begin to rise. No one likes it but the Serpentine.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> asfdsdgsddfh whoops here's me finally updating this shit
> 
> anyways this chapter begins the downward spiral of angst jay's gonna be s m a c k e d with and oh boy am i excited
> 
> chen is so fun to write i never realized how FUN he is to write
> 
> also! in between chapters i realized that electric eels (aka what jay is) are 1) not saltwater fish and 2) not eels [they're a type of knifefish] but yknow what im disregarding canon because i dont wanna deal with that asdfdgsfhfg lets just say biology glitched

Far in the depths of the ocean, yet not far enough away from the Reef, a sinister feeling was slithering through the rocks and waters. A chilly current ran through, sending shivers down anyone not accustomed to it. If you were to listen closely, whispers would echo, followed by laughs and hisses. This wasn’t the Reef, it was far too sinister; nor was it the Trench, it was not sinister enough. This is the Serpents’ Cove.

Mers of varying types of sea snakes gather here. Red, black, yellow, teal, blue, and the elusive purple. The snakes are known to be sneaky and deceptive, and mer children are warned against wandering too close to their territory. It had happened a few times, yet only three had returned alive. 

The snakes, nicknamed the Serpentine by the locals, have two powerful leaders - the only two sea snakes to be the rare violet. The maniacal Chen, with a love for death games and entertainment, and the manipulative Pythor, whose silver tongue can charm even the strongest of wills. And they were extremely resentful of the Reef dwellers (and by extension Trenchies, but they’re still willing to give them a chance).

Hundreds of Serpentine crawled the sandy floor. They were… preparing. But for what? Pythor grinned, knowing the answer. He curled his long tail around a fish corpse he had hunted earlier, taking a large chunk out of it. Beside him, draped over his makeshift throne of skeletons, Chen laughed. Their plan was coming together perfectly. The skull on his head rattled as he cackled in elation.

An arrival made them turn their heads to see who disturbed them. A flash of red and black with a slight touch of purple, signified the presence of someone that had every right to be there. 

“Everything is going well, I suppose?” The stranger cocked their head.

“Of course it is!” Chen responded gleefully. “We’ve been planning this for so long, it better work~”

“It’s going to work, Chen,” Pythor corrected. His eyes narrowed, glinting dangerously pink. White hair billowed around his head as he smiled. “It will absolutely work.”

-

Another successful escape from home by Jay heralded his entering of the ocean. It had been almost a week since he had gotten turned, and he and Cole had set up a schedule to figure out when and how to meet. A blush spread over his face as he remembered how excited Cole had been when they were planning things out. 

However, as he entered the Reef, he felt a tension in the air - water? - and frowned. Jay had always been good at picking up atmosphere, yet with the uneasiness the locals had, it was like reading a billboard. Eventually, he found Cole waiting near the marketplace, whose face brightened when he spotted the shifter. 

“Hey Jay!” His greeting was forced. It was well-hidden, but Jay was used to picking apart this sort of stuff. Something wasn’t right.

“Hey, Cole. What’s going on?”

Cole blinked at that. “What do you mean?”

“It’s so tense here,” Jay elaborated, “I can cut it with a knife.”  
  
  
“Ah, well...,” Cole wrung his hands together, “we have a bit of a… Serpentine situation.”  
  
  
“Serpen-what?” 

“Did no one tell you about the snake cove?” Cole frowned. “They’re a group of sea snake mers that are notoriously evil and known to cause pretty bad crimes. Recently they’ve been on the rise again, and Garmadon is extremely not ok with this.”  
  
  
“Why?”

“Apparently he and Wu had some bad blood with the Serpentine in the past. One of the leaders came up to him and asked him to be their leader, and he didn’t know how to answer, so he kicked them out.” He scratched the back of his head. “I’m not too sure what exactly is going on, but Lloyd is doing worse than Garmadon is. The reason for that,” he cut off Jay before he could ask why again, “is because he also had some bad experiences with the Serpentine when he was a kid, specifically with one of the leaders, the one that came today.”

Jay hummed in deliberation. This was… a lot to swallow all at once, and he wasn’t sure how to help. Hey, it’s in his nature to try to help, don’t blame him!   
  
  
“I wanna go see how Lloyd is doing,” Jay decided after a while. “I wanna make sure he’s ok.”

“I’m sure he’ll appreciate that,” Cole smiled. As he grabbed the shifter’s hand to pull him along to the castle, said shifter blushed like mad, then shook his traitorous face free of red. Why was he blushing every time Cole was around? Pushing the thought away for now, the two of them made their way to the castle.

If Lloyd had legs and was on the surface, he’d be pacing a hole in the floor. As it was, Cole and Jay found him swimming circles around his room, hoodie drawn over his face and mouth mumbling something they couldn’t hear. Jay entered quietly, making his presence known to the pseudo-prince, yet not disturbing him. If Lloyd noticed him, he didn’t show it. He did stop muttering, but that wasn’t that much of a good sign. 

“Lloyd?” Jay asked softly, not wanting to startle him. It didn’t work. Lloyd jumped and stared at Jay from under his hoodie and blonde hair. It was hard to tell underwater, but Lloyd was definitely crying. He gave a faint whimper that vaguely sounded like Jay’s name, then took a shaky breath and tried to steady his breathing. “I’m- I’m fi- fine,” he reassured. 

Jay shot his gaze over to Cole, still in the doorway. Their eyes met and relayed a message of “he is obviously not.” Turning back to Lloyd, Jay tried to find some words of comfort. “Cole told me what happened,” he began. “I’m sorry this is happening…”

Lloyd sniffed as he tried to regain his voice and breath. “Y-yea… tha-thanks…” The kid was miserable; Jay just wanted to hug him (however, Jay respected personal space and was unsure whether he’s even ok with them). 

“The Serpentine had come and gone in the past, haven’t they?” Jay asked carefully. “Why would they do any different this time?”

“They-they’ve never a-asked Da-ad to b-be their leader before,” he hiccuped out. 

“He said no, didn’t he?” Cole spoke up from the door. Lloyd didn’t jump like he did with Jay, but he still turned his head sharply, his hood flying off. 

“He said h-he’ll think about i-it,” he said once he assured himself it was just Cole. “He’s also panicking a-and I’m not sure if i-it’ll be ok after- afterwards…” He looped a finger around a lock of golden blonde hair and took several deep breaths to fully calm down.

After a while of sitting down and talking to calm the pseudo-prince down, there was a knock on the door. Cole opened it to see a guard waiting patiently outside, and after a brief conversation, he left. Cole sighed and looked over at Lloyd. “Garmadon wants you. The snakes came back.”

Lloyd took a shaky breath and sighed. “Y-yea, I kind of… expected that. Lemme just,” he ran a hand through his hair, “fix myself up. I probably look like a mess.” He laughed nervously, clearly not wanting to deal with whatever excess stress he would get upon going back to the main castle room.

“Can we come with you?” Jay probed. 

Lloyd’s lips made a thin line as he debilitated. “Cole probably can; he’s been here so many times. I don’t really know if you could, but,” he shook his head, “you’d probably be able to. Why do you wanna come?”

“Just wanna see what we’re up against, I guess,” the shifter shrugged. 

After a minute or so of being fixed up, the three of them headed into the main throne room. A couple of guards stood at the big doors, yet opened them when they saw the pseudo-prince approaching. One of them glared at Jay, sending shivers all the way from the base of his neck to the tip of his tail. He shrunk down at the heated gaze and gave a nervous smile.

“He’s with me,” Lloyd affirmed. The guard didn’t cool his glare but did step away from the eel mer (to his immense relief). As they went through the doorway, Jay was in absolute awe at what the throne room looked like. It was tall, about 20 feet in height, and was about as spacious as a school auditorium. Beautiful gold accents made the place shimmer, and sunlight streamed through small windows close to the ceiling. 

Three figures sat in thrones at the end of the room, two old men and a young girl. One of the old men had a charcoal black shark tail, with gray wispy hair and an elderly face, and the other looked just like him, but with short white hair in a braid and a long white beard, all under what looked like a straw hat. The young girl had white hair pulled up in a bun, a green coat, a gold crown and jewelry, and a red and peach-striped octopus lower half. 

All three of them were looking over at the visitors that stood in the center of the throne room. Both were sea snakes with purple stripes, yet they were still very very different. The taller one had long white hair tied into a ponytail in the back and a long snake-like tail striped black, white, and purple, and large pale gems adorned his forehead and chest. The other one had what looked like a snake skull as a helmet and a red cloak and black cape that fluttered in the current, leaning onto an odd-looking staff, his black, purple, and red-striped tail twisting around it.

“So, I’ll take that as a no?” Pythor cocked his head. His voice was smooth and melodic as it echoed in the throne room.

The old man with gray hair pounded his fist on the armrest. “Of course not! It’s an awful proposal and I will never accept it! We are not repeating the past.”

“Oh come now, Garmy~” Chen cooed, “We had a great time before, why not do it again?”

Garmadon glared at the snakes coldly as Lloyd quietly made his way to the fourth throne, directly next to Garmadon’s. Though he tried to avoid Pythor’s gaze he attracted it anyways as the Serpentine turned his head to look at him.

“Ah, Lloyd! I was just telling your father about the proposal I can give. Would you like to hear?”

“Absolutely not. Whatever it is, if Dad said no, then I’m saying no too.” He nestled himself into his seat and shot Pythor a heated look.

“But if you would only listen,” Pythor made his way over to the pseudo-prince. “It’s a fairly simple offer, if you would only hear me out.”

“He doesn’t need to know, Pythor,” the other elder mer spoke up. “This isn’t something he should trouble himself with again.”  
  
  
“Wu, Wu, Wu,” Chen sidled up to him, “wouldn’t something like this just be  _ perfect _ for him to know about? He IS part of the family, after all!”

“What- what’s your offer?” Lloyd said firmly. 

“Like I said, it’s simple. We want either you or Garmy to rejoin the serpentine.” Upon seeing Lloyd’s appalled expression Pythor smirked. “Now now, there is another option.”   
  
“...and that would be?”

“We’ll kill everyone in this dumb colorful place, of course!!!” Chen gleefully announced. Jay and Cole gasped in shock from their place by the door.

“The whole Reef? Killed?” Lloyd whirled around to face the maniacal serpentine.

“Killed and raided~!” Chen laughed wildly. His red eyes practically glowed with joy.

“But why do it?” The final member, the white-haired girl, spoke up at last. “Why kill the whole Reef? What good does it do for you?”

“The Reef had excluded us for a long, long time, young one,” Pythor slid up to her. She leaned back to avoid him, her tentacles rising up in defense. “We simply want a place to live that isn’t the Cove. It’s getting very cramped there, you see.”  
  
  
“Stop it, Pythor,” Lloyd called out to him. “I’ve dealt with you before and I’m never going back to the Serpentine. Joining you guys was the worst mistake of my life and I am  _ never _ repeating it.”  
  
  
“It doesn’t matter what you say, Pythor,” Garmadon said. “Both Lloyd and I have declined your offer.”  
  
  
“But in that case,” Chen chirped, “you and the rest of the Reef are gonna die a miserable little death! Do you want that for your darling subjects?” 

“We’ll find some other place to stay,” the princess reasoned.   
  
  
“Where? The Trench? I’m sure you’ll find somewhere to live there, since no one will be left by the time we’re done with it,” Chen countered. “My assistant is there now talking to their leader, and if he refuses, well, the Trench is going bye-bye~!”

“We’ve stated our final answer, you two,” Garmadon rose. “Leave before we make you.”

“Fine, fine, I know when I’m not wanted,” Pythor purred. Flicking his tail, he slithered to the door.

“It IS Garmy, after all,” Chen wiggled in after him. “He’s the most stubborn guy I’ve ever met; you’re never getting through that tough skin!” 

“I suppose he passed that onto his son,” Pythor said. 

As they passed by Jay and Cole, still waiting by the guards at the door, the white-haired serpentine caught the shifter’s eye. Pink met gray-blue as Jay pressed himself closer to Cole. Pythor flashed a sharp-toothed smirk as the guards pushed them out. 

Once the door closed it was like a balloon popped. All the tension building up finally exploded and hit everyone at once. But it really, really hit Jay. Anyone that had known him for even a week knew his... rants… and ramblings about things that annoyed him. Suffice to say that 1) it’s been about a week and 2) this was HIGHLY annoying.

“Well that’s a thing that happened! Can I ask- why do they even need to do this? Why do they just… barge in here, say they want Lloyd and/or Garmadon to join their weird snake cult, and if they don’t, they’ll just kill everyone in the Reef? WHAT THE FUCK!? What the hell even happened between you guys? Why are they so aggressive??? What even IS Chen??? Why is he like that???? WHAT- WHY- HHHHHH”

At the end of that outburst he took a few deep breaths to calm himself, not really noticing the disturbed looks everyone gave him. Once he did, he chuckled nervously and scratched the back of his neck. “Eheheheh, sorry about that, uh… Probably not the greatest first impression?”

“It’s fine, young one,” Wu reassured, “Cole’s was worse.” Upon hearing Cole’s name, Jay turned around sheepishly and saw him looking indignantly at Wu, then looked back at Jay with concern.

“I’ve… never seen this side of you before,” he confessed.

“It’s- well it’s kind of my response to stress,” Jay said, “that or making jokes about it, but this is  _ kinda _ not the right situation to joke about. But these rants are like, a character feature at this point, so if I’m gonna stay here, you’re gonna see a lot of them.”

“You’re right though,” the sea dragon’s voice carried across the room. Turning back around, he saw that the octopus mer had moved over and joined Garmadon in trying to calm down Lloyd. Jay and Cole swam closer to also help and the shifter saw Lloyd trembling. “We don’t know  _ why _ they want Dad or me to rejoin them, but now…”

“Hey, it’ll be ok,” the princess comforted him in a big hug. “We’ll just… figure something out.”

“Harumi…” Lloyd muttered, looking up at her.

“She’s right, Lloyd. We  _ will _ figure something out.” Garmadon squeezed his son’s shoulder. Wu placed a hand on his nephew’s and while Lloyd leaned into the comfort, he still looked scared.  
  
  
“I don’t know… what if this is something we won’t be able to fix?” He began to tremble again. “Wh-what if we won’t all get out in time? What if th-they k-kill everyone? What if we’ll die!?”

“Lloyd…” Cole muttered. 

“I just- I just need some time alone.” Lloyd abruptly got up, shaking off his family’s concerns. “I’ll be back… soon…”

“Lloyd!” Harumi called out as he left, slamming the doors behind him. 

“Cole,” Wu addressed him. The mentioned mer jumped but turned to him. “Can you go after him, just to make sure he’s ok? These are dangerous times right now.”   
  
“Yea, I know where he went,” Cole nodded. He turned to Jay. “If I don’t come back in an hour, something bad has happened. Maybe the Serpentine got me, maybe him, but whatever the case may be, if we don’t come back,” he wrung his hands, “keep yourself safe in our stead.”

Before Jay could say anything, Cole zoomed out through the door. “Cole…” he murmured as he retreated. 

“So, you must be Jay,” Harumi said behind him. 

“Y-yea, I am. Did Lloyd tell you about me?”

“A little bit, yea. I’m Harumi, by the way.” She gave him a rosy smile. “If you didn’t know yet, I’m… kind of the Reef’s princess? Lloyd’s also kinda my little brother, so I’m really worried about him when he gets all anxious like this.”

“He will be fine,” Wu reassured. “If anything bad will happen, Cole will help him.”  
  
  
“Yea, you’re right, Uncle Wu,” Harumi sighed. “As always.”

The elder mer chuckled. Since the three of them were probably having some family bonding (and evacuation planning) to do, Jay excused himself and found his way to Zane’s room - after much searching. 

Zane was alone in the room, organizing some things, back to the door. He was humming to himself (it was really off-key though), yet when he noticed Jay, he stopped. “Ah, Jay! It’s good to see you again.”  
  
  
“It’s nice to see you too!” Jay greeted amicably. “Can I, uh, chill here for a bit?”

“Sure, I could use some help reorganizing, if you don’t mind. Why come here though?”

“Well, Cole is helping Lloyd calm down after the Serpentine situation- do you know about that?” At Zane’s nod, he continued. “Pythor came and said that if Lloyd and Garmadon don’t join them, all of the Reef will die. Lloyd left after this, and Cole went with him. He- he told me if he doesn’t come back in an hour, something had gone wrong.”  
  
  
“How long has it been so far?”  
  
  
“10 minutes,” Jay looked at his watch. He bought a waterproof one a few days ago. “Hopefully nothing bad happens…”  
  
  
“Well, while we wait,” Zane began, handing him a stone tablet, “can you tell me about the surface world?”

Excited to infodump, Jay began talking about the surface - the good things, the bad things, everything he could fit in. They eventually finished working and Jay finished ranting and were relaxing on the couches, having light conversation. Eventually something nagged at Jay to check his watch (as he had every five seconds).

“Uh….. Zane?”

The shifter’s concerned tone drew Zane’s attention. “Y-yes?”

Jay lifted his head drearily. “It’s been an hour.”

A heavy silence passed over the room. “M-maybe he and Lloyd are on their way back now! They- they’re fine! Let’s just, give them five more minutes…” Jay babbled nervously. Zane frowned, unsure, but nodded all the same.

The next five minutes passed far too long and far too quiet. “They’re fine, they’re fine,” Jay tried to reassure himself. He rocked back and forth, hugging his tail close to his chest.

“Jay-”  
  
  
“THEY’RE FINE!” Jay interrupted the whale mer. “There is absolutely NOTHING to worry about! They aren’t in danger! They’re fine! THEY’RE. NOT. IN. DANGER.” 

Zane reeled back at Jay’s explosive temper. “Jay, please-”

“No! I refuse to think that they are anything but fine, Zane! They can’t be in danger, the Serpentine didn’t get them, they’re heading back right now! We do NOT have to worry about them because that is DEFINITELY not what I’m doing!” 

“Jay! Get a hold of yourself!” Zane grasped his shoulders, forcing Jay to look into his eyes. “You’re losing yourself to your temper!”

Electricity ran marathons in his blood as Jay took several angry, anxious breaths. He breathed out a shaky sigh as he deflated. “...sorry,” he whispered. “This is the second time today I’ve ranted; this probably isn’t good.”

“No, it’s fine,” Zane loosened his grip, “this is a stressful situation, you have every right to rant.” 

“It’s just that… if Cole is- he and Lloyd are really in trouble, I- we have to help him!” He wiped any stray tears from his face (how tears appeared underwater baffled his subconscious) and glared readily at Zane. “We have to!”

“You realize that going to the Serpents’ Cove is a dangerous and incredibly risky thing, right? They threatened to kill the Reef; you can’t take that lightly!” Zane reasoned.

“Doesn’t matter!” Jay pushed. “Cole and Lloyd, if they’re even there, need some people to help them, and we can do so! We need to get them out!”

A knowing smirk crossed the whale mer’s face. “We should get going then. Wouldn’t want to keep them waiting, now would we?”

Jay’s face broke into an elated grin, then grew a little concerned. “We’re not going to tell anyone? Take anyone else?”

“It’s harder to sneak in somewhere if there’s a whole army,” Zane said wryly. “I’m sure that if word gets out it would be harder to help them. Now,” he dusted himself off, “allow me to lead the way.”

Twenty minutes later, Jay and Zane found themselves at the cliff overlooking the Cove. An elevated platform showed off a comfortable-looking throne room-esque layout, flashes of purple signifying the leaders milling about in their spot. A few shipwrecks lined the distance, and Jay noticed blobs of color around them. He squinted. His eel vision was a bit worse than his normal vision, so objects from far away looked blurry to him.

“They’re most likely keeping them in that wreck,” Zane whispered, pointing to one that Jay could hardly see. 

He stuck his tongue out. “How in the world can you even see that?”

“I have good eyesight.”  
  
  
“I did too, but these stupid eel eyes aren’t doing me any favors.”

“Well,” Zane explained, chuckling, “I see a lot of Serpentine around that one specific ship, and I think I can see some green- the same green that Lloyd’s leaves have.”

“...Wow, yea these eyes fucking suck,” Jay laughed. “How do we get down there?” 

“I can help, maybe,” an unknown voice sounded from behind them. Jay jumped, lightning sparking around him in an arc. Both he and Zane whirled around to see…

“AH! SERPENTINE!” Jay cried. Indeed, a Serpentine floated by them, long red and black tail curving and waving in the currents. She had red hair pulled into a high ponytail and the stripes on her tail carried over onto her arms. She had on an orange tank top and her scales shimmered a slight purple. A smug smile crossed her face.

“Yea, I’m a serpent. What of it?”

“Are you going to turn us in for trespassing?” Zane said nervously.

“Nah, I wanna help you guys out.” She checked her nails. “You’re here for Cole and Lloyd, right?”

Jay narrowed his eyes. “Why does that matter? Why do you wanna help us?”

“Because this whole operation Dad and Pythor are running is complete and utter bullshit,” she scoffed. “Did you know that they were just going to kill everyone in the Reef and Trench, even if they said yes? It’s completely nuts.”

“...Wait, ‘Dad’?” Jay said. “You mean, that crazy nutcase is your dad??”

“Jay!” Zane admonished.

“No no, he is. Glad someone agrees,” she laughed, “most of the other serpentine are too afraid to say anything about him, lest he kill them.”

“That’s… nice…”

“I’m only playing around, pretending to be into his plan and loving every part of it. I don’t think he OR Pythor know exactly what the consequences will be, so I’m gonna sublty stop them, since I actually know what will happen.” She reached a hand out and winked. “The name’s Skylor! Nice to meet you!”

Jay considered it for a moment before accepting the handshake (and Zane looking very confused at it). “It’s, uh, nice to meet you? I’m Jay, and this is Zane.”  
  
  
If she thought he missed it, he didn’t, for as soon as Jay said his name, her eyes widened in recognition for a split second. The mask of indifference came over once again as they shook hands. He cocked his head curiously, yet Skylor had already turned to Zane and flashed a toothy grin, fangs showing. He waved shyly back. 

“You said you could help us?” Zane said. “How exactly are you to do that?”  
  
  
“I know my way around here, I’ve been here long enough,” Skylor shrugged. “I can get you to a secret passage that can lead to your friends, and keep guard outside while you sneak them out. It’ll totally blow a hole in Dad’s pride,” she laughed sardonically.

“That sounds great Skylor! Thank you!” Jay chirped. Zane, much more wary, nodded.

And so Skylor led them down several long-winded passages, not even catching a glimpse of other mers. EVentually they reached the shipwreck, and as they hid behind a large rock, Skylor pointed them to a large hole in the side of the wreck. Jay and Zane nodded silently and slunk off to it, keeping as low a profile as they could. Meanwhile, Skylor went up to the guards and made some small talk, expertly distracting them.

“Hey. Psst,” Jay tried to alert the captive mers as they got inside the hole and discovered the holding cells (which were fishing nets, Jay realized morbidly). Cole and Lloyd visibly started as they quickly looked over at their saviors. Zane rushed to put a finger on his lips, a universal sign of “be quiet.” A look of relief from Cole flooded Jay with indescribable emotions and he blushed slightly. 

“Thank you,” Lloyd whispered as Jay and Zane worked on untying the nets. 

“Of course!” Zane whispered back. “Don’t worry, you’ll be out in a minute.” They finally got the captive mers out of their nets and carefully beckoned them to the hole. Yet before they could leave, the grinning face of Chen poked through the main entrance hole.

“Well, well, well, what do we have here~?” he purred. “Jailbreaks? Tsk, tsk, that just won’t do!” 

“S-stay back!” Jay stammered. “I have electricity!” Not like he knew how to control it but he could  _ try _ . 

Chen only laughed. “I don’t think a little zap can hurt me, child. Why don’t the four of you go back into the nets, hmm?” At the communal shaking of all their heads, he clicked his tongue. “I guess we’ll just have to force you in.”

“Dad!” Skylor appeared next to him, arms crossed.

“Ah! My darling daughter! What is it you need?”

“Why do you need them anyways?” she pointed out. “We already know Lloyd won’t join you, and I don’t think kidnapping him would change his mind, so why keep him around?”

“For bargaining chips with Garmy! His support for his son!”

“Gee, thanks for that,” Lloyd muttered, causing the mers around him to snicker quietly. 

“You just don’t get politics, my dear,” Chen continued. “It’s all a complicated business, you see! But you know,” he raised a finger to his chin, stroking his beard, “it’s suspicious how well those two were able to rescue their friends. Did someone, oh, help them, perhaps?”

“...Are you accusing me?” Skylor frowned, glaring daggers at daddy dearest. “I had nothing to do with them! I just happened to be passing by.”

Chen was quiet for a moment before his broke into an easy grin. “Of course, dear! So, so sorry about that~!”

“So…” Cole piped up. “Are you gonna set us free?”

“Hmm… sure!”

“Huh?” Everyone shared a confused glance as they processed what Chen said.

“You’re just gonna… let us go, just like that?” Jay asked.

“Well sure! You clearly tried so hard to help your friends, so who am I to take that victory away from you?” Chen stuck his tongue out playfully. It was long and forked, like a snake.

“You- you literally were the one that captured him, but go off I guess,” Skylor muttered. While no one really paid attention to that, Jay recognized the meme, as old as it was, and snorted despite himself. She looked embarrassed, almost, as if she didn’t expect anyone to get that.

“No no, their efforts are commendable! Hopefully they can get away before we kill everyone in the Reef.” Chen said nonchalantly. 

“You don’t need to do that, by the way!” Lloyd added quickly. “You can just, leave it alone. Like, don’t kill everyone there?”

Chen hummed. “A good offer, but I will have to decl-”

“OR-” Skylor interrupted, “we can accept! Don’t you realize, Dad, that if the Reef dies, it would be,” she thought for a moment, “less fun to have fun with them later? Your armies aren’t the most prepared, and hell, I don’t even think you are! Why can’t we just, reschedule, at the very least?”

“...You know exactly how to play to my interests~ I accept!”

“Y-you do?” Lloyd blinked, shocked.

“Like my dear darling daughter said,” he hugged her close, not noticing the strangled look on her face as her tail wiggled, “I can just reschedule! Do it later! The Reefies are gonna die regardless, so being able to toy with them is just prolonging the inevitable but making it so much more fun- well, for me, at least~!” He cackled madly, letting Skylor go. 

He continued to laugh as his daughter led the mers out of the wreck and through the Cove. Lots of Serpentine turned to look in disbelief, and Jay felt their heated gazes prickling the hairs on the back of his neck. As they reached the edge of the Cove, the group gave a collective sigh of relief.

“Thank you so much, Skylor,” Zane bowed politely. “The way you convinced your father is truly what saved us tonight. How can we show our gratitude?”

“Don’t worry about it,” Skylor shrugged. “In the meantime,” she turned to Lloyd, “you and your family need to prepare a backup plan when they do inevitably return for that massacre or whatever. It’ll help in the long run.”

Lloyd nodded thankfully. He, Cole, and Zane turned to swim back to the castle, but Jay stayed behind for a bit. 

“Thanks for, well, everything.” He smirked warmly. “We owe you one.”

“Oh please,” Skylor waved it away. “You and your friends can relax for a bit before Dad and Pythor attack. Hope you guys get a plan, so that you won’t all get murdered.”

They shared an uneasy chuckle. Then, Jay frowned. “Do- do you know me from somewhere?”

“...huh?”

“When I introduced myself,” he elaborated, “you looked like you recognized me.”

Her eyes narrowed. “You probably were just seeing things. I’ve never met you, or even seen you before, in my life.”  
  
  
“JAY!” Cole called from the back. “We’re gonna leave you behind if you don’t hurry up!”

“Sorry, sorry!” The shifter called back. Casting one last glance at Skylor, he swam away from the Cove, carrying his anxiety and suspicions as he rejoined the mers.


	4. Chapter 4

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Kai, Nya, and Jay go for a walk by the lake when Jay spots a familiar figure. 
> 
> Content warnings: depictions of pain, light blood.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> AAAAA IM SORRY I ABANDONED YOU SW I DIDNT MEAN ITTT,,,,,
> 
> anyways yes im back, no im not dead, and im sorry for the wait. also sorry for this chapter being shorter than the others; mostly bc theres gonna be some heavier stuff in the next two chapters (that i AM gonna try to write soon) that will take up more room so this was a filler chapter sorta (though it IS still very plot important)

The Serpentine threat was long in the past. Another week had passed since then, and Jay’s escapades to the ocean were swift and fruitful. Every time he’d go down, he’d find Cole waiting for him, a sharky grin on his face. It made Jay feel like his stomach was filling with butterflies, and he was sure his freckles glowed every time around him. As to why, he never really figured out.

He had met up with Morro a few times. Sometimes they even entered together, just to give the teen someone to talk to, since they seemed pretty lonely. Jay knew they’d never admit it, but he could tell they appreciated the company. 

In return, Morro had shown Jay a good place for gathering water gems. It was a small outcropping in a cave near the rocky part of the beach, and Jay regularly came by to check up on them. It wasn’t like they could grow on their own, so he couldn't wait for more to grow so he could take them. When Morro had asked why he needed them, the eel had told him it was for Cole. They had rolled their eyes and smirked, muttering something akin to “of course.”

Regardless, the crystals jangled in Jay’s pocket as he and his roommates took a walk around town. He had picked some up this morning, so they still glowed a soft blue. He was content having a few in his pocket, knowing that they’d be a source of comfort and motivation, to find more and show Cole the surface. His face flushed at the thought, a dopey grin spreading across his face. 

Eventually the three made their way to the small lake not too far from town. It was a good few dozen miles from the ocean, meaning it was perfectly fresh and pure. Those that hated the feeling of saltwater and the harsh sunlight made their way to the lake to relax and swim. It was also a lovely place for family picnics and dates. The air was fresh and not at all salty.

For some reason, Jay hated it.

Before he got turned, he loved the smell of the lake. It was one he couldn’t really place, since it was so unlike the ocean, and since he grew up in a place with absolutely no water, the scent of it was strange on its own. However, after becoming a mer, he sniffed the air and found it smelling… bad. Nothing he felt he had to run away from, but it was a stifling, uncomfortable aura nonetheless. 

“You ok?” Kai’s voice broke Jay out of his stupor, and he realized he must’ve seen the shifter scrunching his face up.

“Uh- yea,” Jay shook his head. “Sorry, I was just zoning out.”

“No worries, dude,” Kai closed his eyes and continued to walk with his hands folded behind his head. Nya kicked a rock out of his way so he wouldn’t trip. “Seriously, I don’t like being here either, so I get it.”

“Right, your hydrophobia,” Jay remembered. Kai had always been afraid of water - it was a shocker that he and Nya agreed to come on the cruise with Jay. He never did find out why exactly he hated water, and the accident a few weeks couldn’t have done any favors. 

Kai stuck his tongue out. “Yea,” he muttered, opening his eyes again. They glistened in the midday sun, a faraway look in them. After a moment of silence, he sighed. “I’m tired.”

“We were walking for like half an hour, Kai,” Nya retorted. “We can go sit by the lake if you want.”

Kai paused. Putting a hand on his chin in thought, his gaze darted from the road to the lake. Eventually he relented and nodded. “Sure, I guess.” He spared a glance at Jay, who was looking at the lake with apprehension. The oppressive air hadn’t left. 

They found themselves a nice spot in the grass, under the shade of a big tree. Plopping themselves down by the roots, they made small talk about the current political state or the weather, anything to keep their mind off of things. Eventually Jay brought out his phone and started playing some mobile game that had caught his attention recently. 

“Whoa, take a look at that!” Nya’s voice brought Jay out of his thoughts, tearing his attention away from his phone. Looking out at where Nya was pointing, the lake, he gasped.

A gorgeous sunset had taken over the lake. The waters were shimmering gold and orange and pink, and the lavender clouds overhead mirrored perfectly onto the surface of the lake. Jay smiled, the pressure domineering over him all day now gone and forgotten about. He could just sit here and watch the sun set in peace with his roommates. This was fine.

Eventually, they were the only people left at the lake. The sun had almost entirely set, painting the water in purples and blues. Jay was a little stir-crazy about sitting in one place for too long, so he decided to test out a theory. Hauling himself off the tree, he made his way over to the lake. The closer he got, the stronger the smell got, and the harder it was to breathe it in. Scrunching his nose, he carefully touched the surface of the water, then dunked his whole hand in.

It didn’t _hurt_ , but holy shit was it uncomfortable. His hand felt like it had fallen asleep, pinpricks of tiny needles stabbing every inch of it. It wasn’t numb, though, so he really felt every little bit of that pain. He quickly withdrew his hand, suppressing a hiss.

_‘Looks like fresh water really is harmful,’_ Jay thought, looking around absently. He saw the lake, trees growing all around it (probably leading to a park), a flash of red moving quickly through the trees- wait what?

Blinking and shaking his head, Jay focused on the blur. It lingered in the trees, as if waiting for something. Moving a little closer, he could make out that it was a person with red hair. But that red was familiar. Jay racked his brain. What was that?

“Hey guys?” he called tentatively to the others. “I’m gonna check something out, ok?”

“Hm? Yea, don’t stray too far,” Nya replied absently. “It’s getting dark; don’t want you getting mauled by something in the woods.”

“Ok!” With that, the shifter rushed off after the blur, seeing as it had started moving again. Running into the forest, he spotted that extremely obvious red in the midst of green and brown moving calmly throughout. They wore simple clothes, shorts and a tank top, and the red hair was pulled into a ponytail. This only served to add more familiarity to who this mystery person was (Jay once again cursed his memory for being a literal piece of shit).

Unfortunately, Jay stepped on a twig as he tried to move closer. This caused the redhead to snap to attention, staring in his general direction. Now Jay could pinpoint exactly who this was, and why they were so familiar.

“Skylor?” The same serpentine girl who helped them escape the rest of her tribe of snakes was now standing not too far away, on two normal human legs and not a long snake tail. She backed up a little, clearly not expecting to see Jay, and bolted. He made a noise in alarm and chased after her. 

Eel ran after snake as the shifters pelted through the forest. Neither of them were good at it, so it was both loud and painful to rocket through the woods. Jay could only keep track of Skylor because of her red hair, since he was much slower and was VERY short on breath.

Eventually, they broke out of the trees and to what Jay could only assume was the other side of the lake. There was a shed, probably with fishing tools, and a small dock with a rowboat tied to it, the stench of fresh water back in full effect. He spotted the red blur that was Skylor running closer to the dock, and put on a burst of speed to sprint ahead of her, cornering her at the dock, her back facing the lake.

“Skylor... please- wait! I just... want to talk!” Jay explained, panting heavily between each word. He could see her eyes shifting between him and the boat. “Why’d… why’d you run?” 

She seemed to be out of breath too. “Sorry, I- I got scared,” Skylor panted. “I wasn’t- I didn’t think you were a shifter… So I ran.”

“But _why_ did you run?” Jay regained his breath eventually. “Why was that your first instinct?” 

“I-” she bit her lip, “I don’t know. But- I’m sorry. Please, don’t tell anyone I was here.” With that, she ducked her head and ran behind the shack. Jay coughed, still out of breath, and ran to chase her again. But as he rounded the corner of the shed, Skylor was gone. Breathing heavily, he slumped against the nearest wall and stared at the lake. It glistened black, like the void of space, as a reflection of the darkened sky.

Wait.. darkened sky? Jay looked up and saw that it was far later than he had anticipated. He probably was too distracted by Skylor and the chase to really pay attention to how late it was, but now that he saw the moon shining and the stars twinkling overhead, he heaved a sigh. How the hell was he supposed to find his way back to Kai and Nya?

Then, he remembered. “The boat!” Jay pushed himself off the floor and headed to the boat. It was a small wooden rowboat, an oar laying carelessly on its seat. Sitting down in the boat, he began the strenuous task of figuring out how to use an oar.

“Why didn’t I go through the fucking woods again, huh?” he grumbled as he waved the oar around. “Why did I decide _this_ was the best way to get back?” Well, it was too late at this point; he had already rowed himself halfway across the lake. No turning back. The stifling atmosphere only got stronger when he got out into the lake. 

Yet as he tried to row, Jay’s mind kept drifting off to Skylor. He hadn’t known she was a shifter like him, but why was she so scared of him? Why did she tell him to keep quiet? Who could possibly be here that knows her? Jay scratched at his head, biting his lip. Why’d everything have to be so damn complicated?

Eventually, he got far enough across the lake and saw figures in the distance. It still felt so uncomfortable to even exist around this place, but Jay managed to lean out far enough to try and see where his roommates were. The shore was barely visible from where he was, and only bare silhouettes of trees and people(?) were seen. Upon not seeing them right away, he decided on a louder method.

“KAI? NYA?” He yelled at the top of his lungs. 

A couple seconds later, he got a response. “JAY? IS THAT YOU?” 

Jay smiled in relief when he heard Kai’s voice. “YEA! I’M OUT IN THE LAKE!”

“THE FUCK ARE YOU DOING THERE?”

  
  
“I-” he paused, “I’LL TELL YOU LATER, K?”

“ARE YOU SWIMMING?”

  
  
“FUCK NO, YOU REALLY THINK I CAN SWIM ACROSS THE WHOLE LAKE?”

A faint laugh was heard. “GOOD POINT. COME TO THE SOUND OF MY VOICE.”

“OK!” With that, the yelling ended, and Jay began (trying to) row to shore, to where he heard Kai’s voice. Eventually, he saw a humanoid figure in the distance. He waved his arm to catch the figure’s attention, and it worked. The figure (Kai probably) waved back then another figure joined him. Jay leaned out further to see if they were indeed his roommates.

The boat rocked as he leaned out. He looked at it nervously, hoping it didn’t tip. “Kai? You there?” Jay called out gentler than before.

“Yea! I can hear you!” Kai’s voice rang back.

  
  
“What the hell are you doing in a rowboat?” Nya’s voice called out as well.

“It’s a long story,” Jay laughed, “I’ll tell you when I get back to the shore!”

At the sounds of agreement from the siblings, Jay sighed and leaned back into the boat. However, he rocked it too far back. A feeling of dread took over every of his senses and he scrambled to level the boat.

Too late, he grabbed onto the oar as the boat tipped backwards and fresh water coated him. It soaked into his clothes and his skin and oh my god did it hurt. Every nerve ending was on fire, and while he still started to shift, it wasn’t as painless an experience. His gills opened up and breathed in fresh water, and it stung like thousands of hot needles. Jay grabbed at his throat, trying to stop inhaling the fresh water, but it was too late. He saw his vision darken, and every organ and body part hurt.

Then he remembered something. The sea crystals in his pocket glowed in the water. Taking a hand off his neck (not like it even did anything in the first place), he thrust it into his pocket and ripped the gems out. Gathering small handfuls in his hands, he slammed them against his gills once again, anything to alleviate the pain. 

Somehow it worked. The pain faded slightly, and he started to breathe easier. Black faded from his vision, and his tail twitched weakly. He was still in a world of pain; the crystals could only do so much. 

Out of the corner of his eyes, Jay saw two shapes moving towards him swiftly. Blurs of red, black, and white darted to him and through his bleary hearing he heard voices calling out to him. A pair of arms grabbed him by the waist and he was hoisted up to the surface.

His head broke the water surface and he took a deep breath. His gills flickered against his fingertips as they sucked in oxygen. The voices continued to talk as he was thrown to the shore. Slowly, he felt his body reverting back to human and he felt himself breathe through his nose once more, taking big gulps of air. The crystals scattered on the lakeshore, no longer needed. His whole body was sore and he lay flat and unmoving.

Eventually, he heard his name being chanted over and over again. Jay opened his eyes and saw Kai hovering overhead. Something about him was off, but Jay felt like cotton clouded his brain and he squinted at his roommate to try and figure it out.

“...Kai?” he muttered.

Kai snorted in relief. “Yea, oh thank god you’re ok,” he said gratefully, “we thought you died.”

“Me too, man,” Jay laughed, but it turned into a cough. Eventually, he pushed himself off the shore into a sitting position, wanting to face Kai directly. “Thanks for saving me,” he gave his roommate a wobbly grin.

“Yea, you better thank him,” Nya’s voice spoke up from the direction of the water. Jay turned his head to see that she was still halfway submerged, arms crossed on the sand and chin on her wrists. “He hauled you out of the lake himself.”

  
  
Jay blinked. “Kai? Went into the water? Willingly?” Kai gave a sheepish grin, making the black scales on his cheeks glisten in the moonlight.

Wait what?

As Jay processed that sentence in his head a little longer (and probably missing whatever Kai had to say), he took a better look. Now that his head was slightly clearer, he could see what exactly was bothering him about Kai. It was a little known secret that Kai had freckles, since he usually covered them with foundation or concealer, but these were actually black spots on his face, running along his cheekbones and into his ears, which were a lot pointier than usual. The red bandana that was always on his neck was now off, and thin slits were barely seen in the moonlight. 

As his eyes drifted downwards, Jay looked at Kai’s hands, which were also lined with black scales, and his legs- or, at least, where his legs _should_ have been. They were replaced with a sleek white fish tail with red and black patches, thin fins, and a grouping of scars around the bottom of it, half stuck in the water. Some part of Jay’s brain told him it was a koi’s tail, the other part was still freaking out over the fact that _Kai was a mer too._

A look at Nya confirmed the same on her end. Same black scales on her face and arms, same slick tail swishing around the lake. “Y-” Jay finally gathered words in his mouth, “you’re shifters too?”

“We were about to ask you the same thing,” Nya bit her lip. “We saw you fall and ran into the lake to help, and we saw you shift… But you looked like you were dying, Jay,” she let out a shaky sigh. “You looked like you were in so much pain…”

“I have never experienced more pain in my entire life,” Jay deadpanned, not wanting to remember what had just happened. “I mean, I’m not supposed to be in fresh water, I’ll die if I am, haha.”

“Dude you almost died!” Kai exclaimed. “It’s no laughing matter!”

  
  
“I cope through HUMOR, Kai,” Jay stuck his tongue out. His breathing was still labored and his whole body hurt, but hey, he was alive, so hey!

“What the absolute shit is going on here,” a new voice sounded from behind them. They turned to see Morro standing not too far from the shore, looking extremely exasperatedly at Jay. “Did you actually fall into the damn lake you complete dumbass?”

“...maybe?”

Morro leaned their head back and groaned. “Of course you did.”

“Hey, he had a good reason for it!” Nya defended her roommate. “...You do, right Jay?”

“Of course I do! I saw-” before Jay could continue, he began choking and coughing into the back of his hand. When he drew it back up, he saw there was blood on it. “That’s not good.”

Morro grabbed Jay by the arm and hauled him up, ignoring the eel’s sounds of protest. “Ok, you’re coming with me to get refreshed in the ocean. The crystals,” they waved at the scattered gems, “ _barely_ saved you, and if you stay any longer you’re gonna get freshwater poisoning and _actually_ die.”

“Oh sure, just steal our roommate while we’re talking,” Nya snarked. With a softer look and voice, she turned to Jay. “Are you gonna be ok, Jay?” 

Jay coughed some more. “I- I will be, I guess. I have so many questions and-” he broke off with more bloody coughs. Morro pulled again. 

“Yea, later, I get it,” Kai flicked his tail. “We need to soak, anyways.”

Jay gave a shaky laugh, and as Morro reached for his ear, he ducked and slapped their hand away. “Yea, yea.” Turning back to his roommates, he smirked. “I’ll see you guys in a bit?”

At their nods, he smiled again. Weakly stumbling after the dragon shifter, they made their way to the ocean.


End file.
